Sue Jeffers, 55, of New Brighton, is running for a seat on the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners. The former bar owner and conservative talk radio host faces Mary Burg and outgoing state Sen. Mary Jo McGuire in the Aug. 14, 2012, primary, which will pare the race down to two candidates. (Courtesy photo)

Former radio personality Sue Jeffers and outgoing state Sen. Mary Jo McGuire, DFL-Roseville, are offering voters a study in political contrasts.

When Ramsey County Attorney John Choi recently asked the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners for $85,000 to help continue a program that counsels female runaways, the two board candidates swung in opposite directions.

McGuire sees an opportunity to avert deeper costs, such as jailing a teen offender down the road. “In the county budget, I’ve always been an advocate for early intervention in the areas of public health and public safety, because I know they will help us save money later on,” she said.

Jeffers, who recently was a conservative talk show host, is skeptical. “Until we find out if the program works, it doesn’t get any more money,” she said. “What other program do we have in place that’s supposed to be taking care of this problem? And if we have another program, maybe we shut down that other program.”

Voters on Nov. 6 will determine which candidate gets to serve a four-year term on the seven-member county board. Jan Parker has chosen not to run for a fifth term, freeing up a rare open seat that McGuire and Jeffers both hope to occupy. District 2 includes Lauderdale, Little Canada, New Brighton, Roseville, a single precinct in Mounds View and the Ramsey County portion of St. Anthony.

Parker has thrown her support behind McGuire, a longstanding lawmaker, who is locked in a race with Jeffers, the former owner of the Stub and Herbs bar in Minneapolis. The county board is officially a nonpartisan body, but it’s no secret that most of its members are DFLers. Many observers see this as a political race with strong partisan hues.

McGuire also enjoys the support of several major unions, women’s groups and elected officials, including Congresswoman Betty McCollum, D-Minn. Jeffers has sought no official political endorsements, but her fundraising parties have drawn conservative characters such as fellow radio personality Jason Lewis, “America’s Mr. Right.”

As a House member in the early 1990s, McGuire chaired the Ramsey County delegation to the State House, and she believes her bi-partisan ties will be key in pushing the argument that counties are suffering under an increasing number of unfunded state mandates in human services and other areas.

“I’m running on the fact that I have experience in both government and the community, and I have roots in the community,” McGuire said. “In Ramsey County’s specific case, they’ve actually lowered their expenses, but they’ve had to raise property taxes because the state and federal government has not funded the mandates. … A number of people at the Capitol understand this, but we don’t have as many as we need.”

McGuire noted that Ramsey County has a coveted AAA bond rating, key evidence that the county has managed its budget responsibly.

Jeffers is not convinced the county has done enough to trim spending. She says the county share of property taxes on a median value home in her suburban district (a homestead valued at $201,000) adds up to $1,100, which is considerably higher than that of Dakota, Washington, Anoka or suburban Hennepin counties.

“I’m saying they spend a lot of money, they borrow a lot of money, and they have a lot of debt,” Jeffers said.

Meanwhile, public spending has gone to support projects Jeffers said she would never have voted for, including the St. Paul Union Depot and the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line. She points to the deteriorated condition of the County Road E-2 bridge over Interstate 35W in New Brighton as a more immediate and neglected concern.

“A lot of the things that the Department of Transportation consider a priority, are not a priority for the people of Roseville,” Jeffers said. “Traffic calming. Have you heard of traffic calming? It’s where you take a four-lane street and you make it three.”

McGuire, who hopes to serve on the multi-county Counties Transit Improvement Board, said she’s eager to see new transit options bloom in the district, including along a possible “northeast corridor” from Northeast Minneapolis through St. Anthony and into Roseville. “I want to make sure that the county’s transportation efforts include our suburban area,” she said.

One of the largest projects the new county commissioners will face is a possible partnership with a private telecommunications company, the Minnesota Fiber Exchange, to build a $14 million fiber optic broadband network. The goal is to create an ultra-fast Internet network for county government use, which cities and private businesses could also opt into for a price.

McGuire said she, like other county officials, is still studying the proposal.

“I want to not see duplication, and lay a lot more lines when there’s already lines we may be able to use,” she said. “Roseville already has their own system, and they provide a system for other communities in the area. … I want to learn a lot more about this.”

Jeffers said her mind is made up.

“No, no, no,” she said. “The minute they ink the deal, the technology is obsolete. St. Paul, I’m happy you’ve got your new ballpark. And you’ve got your new train. You pay for your own broadband. You could just sum it up with ‘no, exclamation point.’ ”

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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